Is Maahi o Gorbeh (Fish & Cat) really one single take?

Yes. Mokri shot the entire 134-minute runtime in one continuous, unedited take — an extraordinary logistical and artistic achievement that sets the film apart from virtually any other Iranian production.

Film Maahi o Gorbeh irani hast? Koja bebinam?

Bale, yek filme irani ast az Shahram Mokri. Mitunid ruye K-Time be soorat online tamasha konid — be VPN niaz nadarid va ruye har dastgah az jomle TV, laptop, ya gooshi kar mikone.

What genre is Fish & Cat — is it a horror film?

It sits at the intersection of thriller, mystery, and art cinema with strong folk-horror overtones. It is atmospheric and slow-burning rather than conventionally scary, prioritising dread and disorientation over jump scares.

Does Fish & Cat have English subtitles or Persian dubbing?

The film plays in original Persian audio on K-Time. English-subtitle support is available to help non-Farsi-speaking viewers follow along with the dialogue and atmosphere.

Maahi o Gorbeh

Name: Maahi o Gorbeh
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Released: 2013
Duration: 142 min
Cast: Babak Karimi, Saeed Ebrahimifar, Abed Abest, Faraz Modiri, Pedram Sharifi

Director: Shahram Mokri

Cast: Babak Karimi, Saeed Ebrahimifar, Abed Abest, Faraz Modiri, Pedram Sharifi

Maahi o Gorbeh (Fish & Cat) is a 2013 Iranian drama-mystery-thriller directed by Shahram Mokri, shot in an unbroken single take lasting 134 minutes. Set around a lakeside kite festival in the Iranian wilderness, it is one of the most formally audacious works in contemporary Iranian cinema.

What is Maahi o Gorbeh about?

A group of university students pitch camp beside a lake to take part in a regional kite-flying competition. Near their tents stands a roadside restaurant whose staff greet the newcomers with barely concealed wariness. Strange occurrences begin to accumulate — missing faces, repeated conversations, time that seems to fold back on itself — and what started as a weekend trip quietly hardens into something the young visitors cannot simply walk away from. Mokri never shows his hand; the unease builds through atmosphere and ellipsis rather than conventional plot mechanics, keeping the exact nature of the threat deliberately and unnervingly unstated.

The K-Time take

Shot in a single, genuinely unedited long take, Maahi o Gorbeh is a formal achievement that never lets its technical ambition overshadow the dread it generates. Mokri uses the continuous camera to create temporal loops that disorient without confusion, drawing on both Persian folk-horror anxiety and art-cinema minimalism. At 142 minutes the film demands patience, but viewers who give it that patience will find a work of rare, quiet menace.

Cast & crew

Director Shahram Mokri conceived the film's notorious single-take structure and co-wrote the screenplay. Babak Karimi, one of Iran's most versatile character actors, anchors the restaurant side of the story. The ensemble — Saeed Ebrahimifar, Abed Abest, Faraz Modiri, Pedram Sharifi, Mona Ahmadi, Arnavaz Sahari, and Neda Jebraeili — maintains the film's naturalistic, almost documentary texture throughout.

Context & significance

For the Iranian diaspora, Maahi o Gorbeh arrived as proof that Iranian independent cinema was capable of radical formal experimentation without abandoning its roots in spare, observational storytelling. The film drew attention at international festivals and became a reference point in discussions of long-take filmmaking worldwide. Its lakeside, forested setting evokes the Caspian north of Iran — a landscape loaded with cultural memory for Persian-speaking viewers — and the folk-horror undercurrent speaks to anxieties that resonate across generations. Watching it outside Iran, where access to such work has historically been limited, carries its own quiet charge.

Where & how to watch

Maahi o Gorbeh is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. No VPN is needed — the film streams without geo-blocking on the web, on your TV, and on your phone. Subscribers can cancel anytime.